Author Sandra Cisneros talks with a fan while signing books after a book reading at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago, Ill. Thursday, October 3, 2002.

Photo By PETER THOMPSON/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS

Author Sandra Cisneros (left) talks with a fan while signing books after a book reading at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago, Ill. Thursday, October 3, 2002.

Photo By Photo by Al Rendon

Sandra Cisneros' book in progress is "Writing in My Pajamas," a collection of essays.

Photo By Photo by Al Rendon

Sandra Cisneros' book in progress is "Writing in My Pajamas," a collection of essays.

Photo By Photo by Erin Eggers/Express-News

Renowned writer Sandra Cisneros has put her King William home on the real estate market and plans to leave San Antonio, possibly for New Mexico, next year, in order to devote more time to her own writing projects.

Photo By Photo by Ray Santisteban

Local writer Sandra Cisneros will host a 55th birthday party fundraiser to benefit her Macondo Foundation, a non-profit literary organization.

Photo By LELAND A. OUTZ/SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros at the Macondo reading event on 7/31/2009 at Casa Navarro.

Tracy Bennett (Library Foudation Exec Dir), Sandra Cisneros (Author) and Ellen Riojas Clark (Board Member) were at the House On Mango Street anniversary on 4/3/2009 at the Central Library.

Photo By ROBERT MCLEROY/SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros offers a reading from a current work during the 25th Anniversary of her book "The House on Mango Street," at the downtown San Antonio Public Library, April 3, 2009.

Photo By ROBERT MCLEROY/SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS

25th Anniversary of Sandra Cisneros' book "The House on Mango Street," at the downtown San Antonio Public Library Friday April 3, 2009.

Photo By GLORIA FERNIZ/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

The Guenther street home of Sandra Cisneros in the King William area, Feb. 23, 2009.

Photo By GLORIA FERNIZ/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

METRO The Guenther street home of Sandra Cisneros (pink house on right) in the King William area Monday, February 23, 2009.

Photo By HELEN L. MONTOYA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros speaks about the upcoming Macondo Workshops that will include three programs that are open to the public.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Norma Alarcon, from left, admits to reading books by Rod Davis' "guilty pleasure" author James Lee Burke as Davis talks about the book while Sandra Cisneros and Steven G. Kellman look on during the National Book Critics Circle Good Reads event at Gemini Ink in San Antonio on Friday, May 30, 2008.

Photo By Lisa Krantz/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros talks about the beauty of a sentence and the nourishment of good books after reading from "Brother, I'm Dying," by Edwidge Danticat while fellow authors and panelists Steven G. Kellman, right, and from left, Norma Alarcon and Rod Davis look on during the National Book Critics Circle Good Reads event at Gemini Ink in San Antonio on Friday, May 30, 2008.

Photo By HELEN L. MONTOYA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros listens as Rodrigo Cervantes gives a literary presentation prior to Cisneros speaking with students at Our Lady of the Lake's Literary Festival "Just Words/Palabras de Justicia" on Friday April 4, 2008 at Thiry Auditorium.

Photo By HELEN L. MONTOYA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros speaks with students at Our Lady of the Lake's Literary Festival "Just Words/Palabras de Justicia" on Friday April 4, 2008 at Thiry Auditorium.

Photo By LELAND A. OUTZ/SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS

Josie F. Garza (Macondo board member), Sandra Cisneros (pres) and Baldemar Velasquez (Pres Farm Labor Organizing Committee, speaker) were at Jump-Start on 8/4/2007 for the Two or Three Things I Know For Sure event.

Photo By Robert McLeroy/San Antonio Express-News

Amalia Mesa-Baines, artist and historian; Baldemar Velasquez, labor organizer; Sandra Cisneros, local writer and event organizer; and Ruth Behar, author and filmmaker at press conference to announce gathering of Latino MacArthur Fellows, or MacArturos, and to unveil the poster for the event. August 1, 2007.

Photo By HELEN L. MONTOYA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros and other latino authors read from their works at Trinity University on Tuesday March 6, 2007.

Photo By TOM REEL/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Macarena del Rocio Hernandez draws a smile from Sandra Cisneros (middle) as she describes her experiences in trying to teach high school kids. Arturo Madrid, moderator at the panel discussion of Texas Mexican literature at Texas State Univeristy, listens to the light hearted account.

Sandra Cisneros (left) bows to Carlos Fuentes as she gives him an award from the San Antonio Public Library Foundation on Oct. 21, 2005.

Sandra Cisneros

Photo By NICOLE FRUGE/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros listens to the opening remarks during the Latina Letters conference in the University Center at St. Mary's University Thursday, July 14, 2005.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Bill Sanchez installs a porch swing at the lower King William home of author Sandra Cisneros. The house was painted a purple color that created some local controversy in that historic area, but they went through a city review process and changed the color to an intense pink color.

Photo By BAHRAM MARK SOBHANI/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Sandra Cisneros' house is painted pink Friday, June 18, 2004 in King William.

Photo By LELAND A. OUTZ/SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS

Graciela Sanchez (director of Esperanza), Maria Luisa Camacho (honoree) and Sandra Cisneros (author) were at the Esperanza Center on 3/27/2004 for the Rebozo de Caramelo event.

Photo By ROBERT MCLEROY/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

As a fundraiser for the Esperanza Center, Sandra Cisneros (left) is doing a talk on the history and significance of the rebozo, the traditional Mexican shawl. She is also paying tribute to Maria Luisa Camacho de Lopez (right,) an expert on traditional Mexican costumes, who introduced her to the caramel-hued rebozo her recent novel is named for. Monday March 15, 2004.

Sandra Cisneros (author) and Joan Frederick (guest) were at the Twig Book Shop on 12/12/2002 for the book signing by Cisneros.

Photo By BILLY CALZADA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Author Sandra Cisneros (R) autographs a book for Blanca Ochoa after her reading at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center's San Antonio Inter-American Book Fair and Festival on Thursday night, Nov. 21, 2002. Cisneros was joined by writers Marjorie Agosin and Sergio Ramirez, who also read from their works.

Photo By BILLY CALZADA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Author Sandra Cisneros has just released a new novel, "Caramelo." She relaxes for a portrait at the Liberty Bar.

Photo By KIN MAN HUI/EN

Sandar Cisneros poses for LA Eyewear for ArtPace.

Photo By RICK HUNTER

Author and poet Sandra Cisneros reads her statement to the San Antonio Library board in reference to funding at branch libraries Wednesday afternoon at the Central Library.

Photo By KIN MAN HUI

A spoof on the Sandra Cisneros and her purple house drew the attention of the 1998 Cornyation at Beethoven Hall, April 21, 1998.

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Internationally renowned writer Sandra Cisneros has put her King William home on the market and plans to leave San Antonio so she can better pursue her own writing projects.

The author of “House on Mango Street” and “Caramelo” said Tuesday that she was still looking for a place to relocate.

“If I had to move today, it would be New Mexico,” she said, “outside Albuquerque.”

Cisneros' departure is not imminent, however, and probably won't happen until next year, she said, after she gets her house — and her archives — in order.

Her 1905 home at 735 E. Guenther St., once the source of controversy when she painted it purple in the '90s (and is now a lovely shade of rosa Mexicana), was listed at $910,000 about a week ago, real estate agent Nicasio Flores said.

The quarter-acre property also has a 1,200-square-foot, three-story studio Cisneros built in 2006 with rooftop views of downtown. The main house, about 1,536 square feet, is full of art and unique touches such as murals and tile work by local artists.

Cisneros bought the house 20 years ago from former Express-News columnist Rick Casey.

Flores, of A&N Realty, said interest in the home has “already been high,” and that he has received “several calls” on it.

“The property is very well situated on the San Antonio River, very well kept and very well priced,” Flores said.

Cisneros also is selling “Casa Azul,” a 1920 cottage across the street at 736 E. Guenther that she bought a few years ago as a literary center for her Macondo Foundation. It's listed at $301,000.

The 15-year-old nonprofit organization, whose future is uncertain, supports “dedicated and compassionate writers” involved in “community-building and non-violent social change.”

Indeed, the foundation is a big part of the reason Cisneros says she wants to leave San Antonio.

“I've learned that I can be a philanthropist or a writer, but I can't do both,” she said. “My face can be on the bucket, but I can no longer fry the chicken.”

The writer, whose “Mango Street” is an American classic taught in schools at all levels, says fundraising and supportive efforts for other writers occupy time she should be devoting to her own literary projects.

Those include a book of essays, a picture book called “Have You Seen Marie?” that is set in Cisneros' neighborhood, and collections of poetry and short fiction.

“I'm also thinking of ‘entering' a novel,” she said. “Because writing a novel is like entering a convent, separating yourself from society for three to five years.”

The Chicago native has nothing but good things to say about San Antonio, which she says has “nurtured” her for two decades.

“Now I need to find a community that will nurture me as an artist,” she said. “I don't feel I'm letting San Antonio go, however, because I have so many friends and connections here.”

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye said Cisneros, “whose work has meant so much to so many young Latinas,” will be missed.

“It means a lot to us to have someone of Sandra's huge audience and reputation living right around the block,” she said. “There's a richness of feeling of community pride, and her leaving will be a loss.”